Southend Italian Festival

Southend’s Italian Festival è tornato di nuovo. The High Street is again being transformed into a Little Italy with fashion, food, a cavalcade of auto exotica and much more!

Essex’s most vibrant, exciting and fun celebration of Italian food, drink and culture returns on Saturday 1 September for a day inspired by il bel paese, the beautiful country.

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The 2018 Italian Festival will fill the High Street with street food stalls, a producer’s market, pizza-making workshops, operatic recitals and lots of other family-friendly fun.

Over 6,000 people enjoyed last year's event, where highlights included a veritable catwalk of Italian supercars, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis and Alfa Romeos. Due to popular demand these amazing macchinas will be back, along with a display of classic scooters from marques such as Lambretta, Vespa and Piaggio.

Before assembling on the High Street to create an incredible automotive display, the cars and bikes will form a procession from 11.30am, passing along the seafront - from Chalkwell Esplanade, heading towards the Kursaal – before heading into the town centre. Don’t forget to bring your cameras and smart phones to capture the sights and sounds of Italian engineering at its finest.

This will be the Italian Festival’s eleventh edition, with each one reflecting Southend’s Italian heritage, plus traditional festivals in Italy, as Southend BID Manager Alison Dewey explains: “Our festival is all about bringing the local community, families and friends together to socialise, enjoy delicious food, drinks and live music.”

“The Italian Festival is dedicated to all Italians, British, Italo-British, tourists, Italophiles and foodies who want to celebrate Italy in Southend! In Italy, local festivals are often characterised by a deep sense of community traditions, with live music and, most importantly, food and drink; so what better way to bring a sense of ‘la dolce vita’ to our corner of Essex than with our own version?!”

This year's event promises a programme that includes hands-on pizza masterclasses, a showcase of the latest Italian street styles and jewellery, special activities for children, such as free face painting and pasta-based arts and crafts sessions, and for the grown-ups, prosecco tasting.

Alison Dewey adds: “Visitors can look forward to everything from arancini and zucchini to Aperol Spritz and zabaglione and everything in between with restaurants, bars and brands joining in the festivities, this year’s Italian Festival is not to be missed if you love great food and drink.”

BBC Essex’s live music stage will also be ramped-up with artists and musicians performing throughout the day, entertaining Italophiles with performances of famous opera arias, choral pieces and poetry.

The Italian Festival will be open from 11am to 4pm and is a completely free to attend event.